Monday, December 17, 2012

I thought I would put up some images today of the first test for the Shaded Basecoat "how to" DVD. These were taken after the first stage of the technique. It is now ready for the darker shading and tinting. This particular DVD is the first of the Painting Pyramid Kickstarter videos to be created.

I had chosen this figure from Raging Heroes for a few reasons. The surfaces are pretty large, and the detail is incredibly fine, which would in turn make it easier for viewers to see what I am trying to do.

Also, there are a variety of surface textures... flesh, metal, cloth, and so on.

I was worried that using a figure which was mostly a cloak, or flesh would not offer enough information on a video that introduces painters to this kind of painting philosophy.

I have been waiting for a chance to film the rest of the painting process, but between the craziness encountered writing the initial proposal and the very dark skies here, I have focused on other elements of the process. For those of you who have seen images of the film setup in previous posts, you can see a huge difference in the overall lighting when I film during bright daylight.

That ambient light cuts down on the glare of the lights dramatically. I paint very rapidly, so if I only use the lights in a darkened room, they tend to reflect way too much on the wet paint. It's no big deal for me, since I know what it is supposed to look like! For someone who is trying to see exactly what I am doing, those reflections might be a real impediment.

As I have said before, I am trying to make these the very best they can be. I have also been reminded not to rush foolhardily into production, because there are 20 different subjects that have to be covered!! Just so you know, this is only the painting DVD's. There are make more on basing and sculpting.

Should goals be met, etc. there are 10 much more highly specialized DVD's that I could create.

As the editing software search continues, here are some more views of the Plague Hulk. These were take more from a ground level view.

At this point, I am trying to create a bunch of new graphics for the kickstarter proposal, using all the very tough lessons learned from the weekend's tribulations.

Many hours were spent changing just about everything from the original plan. There are too many crazy little details to get into here, but suffice to say, it is not terribly easy.

We must have felt very similar to all the folks who come to us for advice about ebay. Since we are 11 year ebay veterans, the problems that newcomers have to that experience are ones we dealt with long ago, when ebay was actually much harder to use.

I will be making another attempt this week, armed with lots of new knowledge, and hopefully some new graphics as well!

I hope you get some enjoyment from these pics of the Big Walking Pustule!